Shaadi.com, Jeevansathi and BharatMatrimony alternatives
For families who want checked profiles and, when they choose, a person doing the work.
The three big sites, in their own words
All three are free to join. Here is what each says it checks.
| What it says it checks | A person to help | |
|---|---|---|
| Shaadi.com | Says it offers verified profiles, with a blue tick badge. | VIP Shaadi, a personalised service. |
| Jeevansathi | Says its profiles are screened. | Premier, with a relationship manager. |
| BharatMatrimony | Says its profiles are mobile verified. | Assisted Service, with a relationship manager. |
Source: each company’s own website, shaadi.com, jeevansathi.com and bharatmatrimony.com, in their own words. Retrieved 9 October 2026. Plans change, so check each site before you decide.
What families report on large apps
Four themes recur in public reviews of the big matrimony apps.
These are themes from public app store, Trustpilot and Quora reviews read on 9 October 2026, not findings about any one company, and every large platform also has families who married through it. They are the questions to ask any service, including us: who replies, what renews, who stays involved, and what happens if no match is found.
Who Evara suits, and who it does not
Plainly, before you spend anything.
| Evara suits you if | Look elsewhere if | |
|---|---|---|
| Who searches | You want matches chosen for you, or a person running the search. | You want to scroll and filter a very large pool yourself. |
| Privacy | You would rather not have a public profile. | You want the widest possible visibility. |
| Budget | You can start free, and pay for a matchmaker only if you want one. | Any spend at all is out of reach this year. |
| Where you are | You live in India or abroad and want a Delhi team you can visit. | You need a local agent who visits your home city. |
What Evara costs, and what it includes
Prices include GST. Charged in rupees.
| You pay | What it includes | |
|---|---|---|
| Membership | Free to join. ₹999 a month, or ₹8,999 for 12 months. | Matches chosen for you each day. Nobody is assigned to your family. |
| Select | ₹51,000 for 6 months, ₹75,000 for 12, ₹1,00,000 until married. | A relationship manager who shortlists and introduces. Contact shared only when both families agree. |
| Reserve | ₹2,51,000 in total, in two parts. | A senior relationship manager, and meetings arranged by our team through to a Roka. |
| Luxe | By invitation. | Introductions arranged privately, in person. |
- Marriages500+
- Practice14+
- Founded2012
What we check, and what we cannot.
Every profile verified before it goes live, and photos approved by a person.
One more check: Income proof
- Income proof, optional. Establishes: Our team reviewed income proof. Cannot establish: Verify family background or education.
A matrimonial website versus a marriage bureau
A website leaves the work to your family; a marriage bureau puts people on it.
The full answer
A matrimonial website gives you a database and a search box, and leaves the checking, the first approach and the follow-up to your family. A marriage bureau such as Evara Matrimony, running since 2012, puts people on that work: photos are approved by a person, and on Select or Reserve one matchmaker shortlists, introduces and follows up.
If you are weighing alternatives to Shaadi.com, BharatMatrimony or Jeevansathi, this page sets out what changes when a person, not a search box, does the work.
How a self-service matrimony site actually works
On a self-service site or app, the searching, the shortlisting and the decision about whom to approach stay with your family.
What a profile says about education, work, income and family is written by the member or a relative. Evara's own checks have the same limit: the selfie check confirms the person matches their own approved photos and is not proof of identity, and ID, video and income checks are optional, so none of them confirms a job or a family's standing. So checking a matrimony profile yourself is worth doing on any site, and the safety steps before a first meeting apply everywhere.
If you are comparing a bureau with an assisted plan on a matrimony site, compare like with like: ask who the person is, how many families they look after at once, whether they speak to the other family before an introduction, and whether they stay involved after the first meeting. Ask us the same questions. Our guide on how to evaluate a matchmaker lists the rest.
Offerings vary by plan and change often, so check each platform's current plans page before you decide.
What you're actually paying for
Personalised matchmaking is a service. You pay for a dedicated matchmaker, which membership does not include, who learns your family's priorities, shortlists profiles, assesses two-sided compatibility, and handles the coordination that families find exhausting: scheduling meetings, managing expectations, facilitating the awkward conversations between families.
The question isn't which costs more. It's which costs more per successful outcome, and which one respects your family's time.
Looking for an alternative to Shaadi.com, BharatMatrimony or Jeevansathi? Premium matchmaking at Evara Matrimony offers both routes: a membership that is free to join, and a personalised matchmaking service where a matchmaker runs the search on Select or Reserve. What a matchmaker costs in India is set out price by price, and how a matchmaker works is explained step by step.
With or without a matchmaker
Who does the work, side by side.
| On your own | With a matchmaker | |
|---|---|---|
| Who searches | Your family | The matchmaker |
| First approach | Your family | The matchmaker |
| Cost | Lower | Higher |
| At Evara | Membership | Select, Reserve and Luxe |
Two ways to begin.
On the Evara app, or with a dedicated matchmaker for your family.
You see your matches and choose. Every profile is verified before it goes live.
- Create your profileFree, in a few minutes
- Matches each morningChosen around your preferences
- Chat when you both say yesOn the Evara app
Free to join
Start free membershipA matchmaker who knows your family searches for you.
- Meet your matchmakerOne person, for your whole search
- Handpicked profilesShortlisted and sent on WhatsApp
- Meetings arrangedWhen both families agree
From ₹51,000
See the matchmaking tiers
A fair way to choose
Five questions sort most families quickly.
Price, and what to read before you pay
Price is the most visible difference and the least useful one on its own.
If most of your answers point to time, privacy and a third party, read whether premium matchmaking is worth it before you pay anyone, us included.
Who will do the daily work?
A self-service site needs someone in the family to read profiles, send interests and follow up, often over weeks or months. If nobody has that time, the cheaper route stalls quietly.
How wide does the search need to be?
For a smaller community, or a family open to matches in several countries, a very large database can surface people no single bureau will know.
How much checking can you do yourselves?
Confirming an employer, speaking to people who know the family and meeting relatives takes time and contacts. Some families are well placed to do it; others would rather someone else did.
How private must the search be?
On a large site your profile is seen by many members you will never hear from. On Select, contact details are shared only when both families agree.
Who makes the first approach?
Many families prefer the first call between two households to come through a third party, as it once did through relatives. A bureau does that; a site leaves it to you.
When a mass-market app might be right
A large site costs less, and for some families it is the right start.
The honest take, in full
Premium matchmaking is not right for everyone. If you want volume, and you are content to run the verification, the scheduling and the family calls yourself, an app is cheaper and it will do.
It earns its price when you have already done the apps, when your family does not want a profile in front of millions, when you would rather not meet a misrepresentation in person, and when your time is worth more than the difference.
Some high-profile families need more discretion than any profile allows. For them there is Luxe, by invitation: Luxe introductions are arranged privately, in person, and nothing about your family is published.
Business families who want the search kept discreet can read how Personalised matchmaking works for business families.
An app is also the better starting point when the budget is tight, when you are early in the search and still working out what matters to you, or when your community or city is thinly represented and reach matters more than curation. Nothing stops a family from starting on a large site and adding a bureau later, and some families run both at once.
The families who come to Evara typically aren't choosing between us and Shaadi.com. They've already done Shaadi.com. They're choosing between continuing to do it themselves and hiring someone to do it properly.
Comparison FAQs
Learn more
Is Evara a marriage bureau or a matrimonial website?
Both, and you choose. Membership is free to join, and matches chosen around your preferences arrive each morning, with nobody assigned to your family. Personalised matchmaking is the marriage bureau: on Select, Reserve or Luxe, a matchmaker runs the search. How a marriage bureau differs from a matrimonial website sets out the trade.
What is a good alternative to Shaadi.com for premium matchmaking?
One where a person does the work an app leaves to you. At Evara Matrimony, membership is free to join and matches are chosen for you each day, with nobody assigned to your family, and on Select or Reserve a matchmaker learns your family, shortlists checked profiles and makes the first approach. Many families keep an app profile alongside, and we do not ask for exclusivity.
Is a marriage bureau better than a matrimonial website?
Not for every family. A website gives reach at low cost and leaves the judgement to you. A marriage bureau adds a person's judgement, checks and the first approach, and costs more. The right choice depends on your time, your budget and how much of the checking you want to do yourself.
Is premium matchmaking worth the higher price?
An app gives you a database. Evara gives you a person, and the person does the review, the curation, the coordination and the follow-up. If your time is worth something the arithmetic usually favours us. If you would rather do all of it yourself, an app is fine.
More comparison questions
How Evara works, and how to start
Evara Matrimony has been matchmaking since 2012 from one office in Delhi, for families across India and for Indian families abroad. There are two routes, and a family can begin on the first and move to the second later.
Evara Matrimony is a matchmaking bureau run from Netaji Subhash Place, Pitampura, in Delhi, for families across India and Indian families abroad. Joining is free and brings a small set of matches chosen for you each day, and Select and Reserve add a relationship manager who shortlists, introduces and follows up.
Create a free profile. Joining costs nothing. Every profile is verified before it goes live, and its photos are approved by a person; a profile is filled in before it is shown. What those checks establish, and what they do not, is set out plainly.
Read your daily matches. On membership, a small set of matches is chosen for you each day and your family decides whom to respond to. Nobody is assigned to your family on this route.
Add a person when you want one. Select gives your family a dedicated relationship manager who shortlists profiles to your preferences and makes regular, considered introductions, with contact details shared only when both families agree. Reserve adds a senior relationship manager and meetings arranged and coordinated by the Evara team, with our team involved through to a confirmed Roka. Both are priced separately, and every price, with its term and tax, is on the packages page.
Talk to us before you decide. Call or WhatsApp +91 93555 66533, Monday to Saturday, 10 AM to 7 PM IST, or leave your details on the enquiry form. To start, create a free profile, or call or WhatsApp +91 93555 66533, Monday to Saturday, 10 AM to 7 PM IST.
Families living abroad usually start on WhatsApp, because it does not need both sides awake at once; matchmaking for NRI families explains how the search runs across time zones. If this is a second marriage, matchmaking after divorce covers what changes, and families in and around the capital can read how we work across Delhi.
Which is the best matrimonial site for our family?
It depends less on the brand than on how you want to search. A large self-service site gives the widest reach at the lowest cost and suits a family with time to search, check and follow up. A bureau suits a family that wants a person to shortlist, check and make the first approach. Some families use both.
When is a mass-market matrimony site the better choice?
When you want the widest reach at the lowest cost and someone in the family has the time to search, check and follow up. It also suits families early in the search who are still working out what they want, and communities or cities where reach matters more than curation. You can add a bureau later, or run both at once.
How does a bureau differ from a matrimony site's assisted plan?
Both put a person on your search, so compare the person rather than the label. Ask how many families they look after at once, whether they speak to the other family before an introduction, whether they attend family meetings, and whether they stay involved after the first meeting. Ask Evara the same questions.
How do I start with Evara?
Create a free profile; it is verified before it goes live, and its photos are approved by a person. You then receive matches chosen for you each day, and you can add Select or Reserve whenever you want a relationship manager to run the search. If you would rather talk first, call or WhatsApp +91 93555 66533, Monday to Saturday, 10 AM to 7 PM IST.
Can families living abroad use Evara instead of an app?
Yes. Evara works with Indian families abroad from its one office in Delhi, and WhatsApp is the practical route from another time zone because it does not need both sides awake at once. Calls are taken in office hours, Monday to Saturday, 10 AM to 7 PM IST. How NRI matchmaking works at Evara sets out the rest.
Can I use both Evara and a matrimony app simultaneously?
Yes. Many of our members maintain active profiles on apps alongside their Evara membership. We don't require exclusivity. What we do require is that you respond to our introductions within a reasonable timeframe, as introductions are considered and time-sensitive.
Why so few introductions? Apps show thousands.
Each introduction is vetted, assessed from both sides, and carries the matchmaker's reasoning. A handful of those is worth more meetings than a screen of strangers.
Do you guarantee a match?
No honest matchmaker can guarantee a match, that's a red flag, not a selling point. What we guarantee is checked profiles, curated introductions, and dedicated coordination. The decision to proceed is always yours and the other family's.
What if I don't find a match within my membership period?
On paid membership, your access runs for the subscribed period. For Select and Reserve, your matchmaker continues working within the agreed tenure. We don't charge extra if it takes time. We also don't rush, a thoughtful match is better than a fast one. Evara promises no outcome, and the refund rule that follows from it is on the payment terms page.
Begin your story.
On the Evara app, or with a dedicated matchmaker for your family.